Labour MPs plotting to topple Gordon Brown over the party's dismal position in
the polls are "grossly irresponsible," Margaret Beckett said on
Monday.

Margaret Beckett has said she intends to stand for the post of Commons Speaker Photo: AP

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent

6:45AM BST 02 Jun 2009

The senior Housing Minister defended the Prime Minister as Downing Street attempted to head off a fresh threat to his position.

Labour is expected to face twin humiliations in Thursday's polls, losing its last four county councils and possibly finishing third in the European Parliament election. Poor results are likely to revive speculation over Mr Brown's future.

Mrs Beckett said Mr Brown's economic credentials meant it would be wrong to try to oust him.

"There could be nothing more grossly irresponsible at the time of the greatest recession, maybe for 60 or 70 years, than to suggest that it is a good idea to dispense with the services of one of the people who is recognised everywhere in the world as best fitted to deal with it," she said.

Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, also defended Mr Brown, insisting that he "has the full backing of the Cabinet and the party".

He added: "My esteem for him has grown as I've worked more closely with him. He has grown internationally. It is fair for the public to recognise that."

The public support of Lord Mandelson is vital to Mr Brown: as long as his Blairite colleague is backing him, other Blairite ministers and MPs may hesitate before mounting public attacks.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, are positioning themselves as potential successors should Mr Brown be ousted, but neither wants to be seen to instigate a challenge.

One scenario being discussed among disaffected MPs is for an "untainted" MP, someone with no history in the old Blair-Brown struggle, to make the first challenge and then trigger a wider show of discontent that makes the Prime Minister's position untenable.

Mr Brown and his supporters are desperate to smother any challenge before it emerges, and the Prime Minister has pre-emptively rejected any move to persuade him to step down.

In a BBC Radio Four interview, Mr Brown insisted that public anger over the parliamentary allowances system was a reason for him to remain in his job.

"With the record I've had in the past, I'm the best person to clean up the political system," he said.

"The clean-up of the political system is best done by someone who's got a clear idea of what needs to be done and I have".

On Monday, a poll for The Daily Telegraph showed that 60 per cent of voters want to have their say on the political system in a general election this year.

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are also calling for an early election.